Review of Big Girl`s Blouse

Introduction

Nestled away on digital television is a comedy show that has attracted a cult following. I`ve tuned in once or twice to Kath & Kim, and have immediately found myself out of my depth. I always assumed that like The Office, it`s one of those acquired tastes, you either get the joke or you don`t, and two minutes exposure midway through a series is no way to get a joke. The thing to do is to go right back to the beginning and watch the show develop. Kath & Kim stars, Gina Riley, Magda Szubanski, and Jane Turner first hit Australian screens in 1995, in a sketch show called Big Girl`s Blouse, which incidentally is where Kath & Kim began, in much the same way the Simpsons had their genesis in the Tracy Ullman show.

What you get here are the first eight episodes of Big Girl`s Blouse, spread across two discs. As well as Kim`s Wedding, there are a whole host of other characters and situations made light of here.

Video

Old television has a certain look to it that no amount of digital presentation can get rid of. Big Girl`s Blouse looks its age, it`s grainy, there is some rainbowing, and there is the odd tape glitch, betraying the show`s videotape origins. What is perplexing is that given eight episodes of 23 minutes in length, why go to the excess of presenting them on two dual layer discs. It`s surely overkill for a show that won`t be improved by spreading itself across several gigabytes of digispace.

Audio

You get a simple DD 2.0 track that does what is expected of it. The dialogue is as clear as you can expect, although I did have the occasional problem with the thicker Australian accent. I pushed my subtitle button but to no avail.

Features

Nothing here mate!

Conclusion

Ninety minutes! Ninety minutes I was sat in front of the TV hoping, praying, and begging for this show to make me laugh. I`d have been satisfied with a smile or a chuckle, but all that Big Girl`s Blouse could elicit was an occasional smirk. By the two-hour mark, I was tossing my remote control up in the air, and internally debating whether to catch it again, or whether to just let it hit my face. At this point I realised that to continue with this particular programme would threaten my sanity.

There`s a stereotype out there, that women can`t be funny. I don`t subscribe to such blatant sexism, but at the same time I`m hard pressed to think of women who make me laugh. Smack The Pony, 3 Non-Blondes, Victoria Wood, Gina Yashere, Jo Brand, all shows and people whose humour just didn`t click with me, and you can add Big Girl`s Blouse to that list. There`s a culture gap as well, and it`s not just the Australian accent that causes me a few problems, the sense of humour is a little different, the pop culture references are ten years old and 10,000 miles out of place, and place names, politicians and celebrities mean nothing to me. The bottom line is that I just didn`t find it funny. If being crass, loud and garish is supposed to be funny, then I guess I`m a bit of a snob. The high point for me was the sketch showing a day in the life of a jockey. Said jockey is small, has a high-pitched voice, and thinks he`s a horse. You see what I`m working with here?

Well comedy is a subjective thing. What makes me laugh may make you vomit in disgust and vice versa. So my indifference to this show should be taken with a pinch of salt. The content scores only reflect my personal opinion, and the fact I was more depressed after watching the show than before, when I had been watching a news item about starvation in Zimbabwe. If you like Kath & Kim then by all means give this set a try, and you can judge how fit I am to review it by the fact that I had to go back through my review and replace all instances of `Kim & Aggie` with `Kath & Kim`. It`s just that by the time I finished watching it, I was thinking fondly of my dentist.